Educating the Aesthetic?: Artistic Practice in the Twenty first Century

Citation

Grenfell M (2012) Educating the Aesthetic?: Artistic Practice in the Twenty first Century. Trinity Education Occasional Papers, 3. https://www.tcd.ie/Education/research/occasional-papers/OccPapMJG2012.pdf

Abstract
First paragraph: In this paper, I discuss the approach that the French social philosopher Bourdieu is offering to consider the visual arts. Modern aesthetics has been a preoccupation of writers, artists and philosophers for well over two hundred years, since Kant gave it contemporary relevance by defining it as a unique part of human consciousness. Aesthetics, in a sense, is inextricably entwined with culture in all its manifestations in the modern world, and has been since the birth of post-Enlightenment societies. Yet, in many ways, it is still not entirely clear how it can best be seen. In this paper, I begin by considering the philosophy of aesthetics and the ‘problem' it poses. I then examine a range of the responses, which have been made to this ‘problem' in order to highlight the space in which Bourdieu might be considered to be most useful. In this paper, I set out explicitly what Bourdieu intends by a ‘science of the history of art' and its component parts. A range of issues connected with his theory are considered and the implications they have for all those in transit through the ‘art field'. Finally, I discuss the consequences such an approach has for visual arts in general.